‘True Grit’: John Wayne vs. Jeff Bridges — which one has more true grit? – EW.com Pinterest Image Credit: Everett Collection; Lorey SebastianIt doesn’t take rocket science to see why True Grit enjoyed the biggest opening weekend of any Coen brothers movie to date. The film may not have won the Coens their most rapturous reviews (though the critics were largely enthusiastic), and it’s hardly their best or most defining work. Yet it’s a remake of a famous and, indeed, iconic Hollywood movie — one that, while not quite a “classic,” remains a robust and beloved end-of-the-studio-system-era Western. OMG, I used the R-word! — I called True Grit a “remake.” The vulgarity, the lowbrow cluelessness on my part! From the outset, you see, the directorial and studio spin on this movie has been to insist that it’s a completely different animal from the deeply sentimental 1969 when-fresh-faced-teenybopper-met-grizzled-old-marshal fable of popular vengeance.

The Coens, making their publicity rounds, have talked and talked about how they went back to Charles Portis’ original novel, which was published in 1968. But if, like me, you’ve never read the novel (and I would guesstimate that 97 percent of the people who saw True Grit over the weekend have not), then after all the remake? what remake?! spin, you might be startled to see how close the movie really does come to the 1969 version. At times, it borders on being a scene-for-scene, line-for-line gloss on it. There are differences, of course. The Coen brothers’ version is more tasteful and intimate and art-directed, a kind of color-coordinated curio. Hailee Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross is notably younger than Kim Darby’s (which, at times, makes the new Mattie seem even more of an old movie concoction), and major sections of the picture are set at night (a technique that worked a lot better in No Country for Old Men).

That said, the essential hook of the new True Grit is, and always was, the sheer curiosity factor of wanting to see Jeff Bridges, in his born-again middle-aged movie-star prime, take on the role of Rooster Cogburn, the part that won John Wayne his only Academy Award. There’s a reason that a great many people still don’t hold Wayne’s cornball-crusty performance in very high esteem. By the late ’60s, movies were in the middle of a revolution, and they had a new audience, known (it now sounds so quaint) as the Film Generation. At the time, a lot of folks under a certain age felt that it was almost their duty to hate John Wayne. He’d become the living embodiment of the Old Values. He was a saber-rattling conservative who, only the year before, in 1968, had pushed his pro-Vietnam hawkishness to the nth degree in the jarringly jingoistic The Green Berets. He had every right to, of course. But what made The Green Berets, as a corrective to Hollywood liberalism, so infamous and despised is that it was such a didactically wooden combat movie.

All that came through, really, was the propaganda. And this reinforced the notion that Wayne, though he remained the most larger-than-life of all Hollywood movie stars, was never, in the fullest sense, an actor. He had come to be seen as the macho cartoon version of himself: the arms-out swagger, the slow-motion molasses drawl, the toughness that never wavered. True Grit, the movie that finally won Wayne his Oscar, was transparently one of those movies designed to win an old warhorse legend his Oscar. Here he was — or so the rap went — running through his rawhide-cowboy shtick, only this time with the added gimmick of an eye patch and an attitude. As if to make him seem even more outdated, True Grit was released within a week of The Wild Bunch, the apocalyptic New Hollywood Western in which director Sam Peckinpah, spattering blood and bullets and doom, exploded the mythology of six-gun heroism that John Wayne incarnated. If you love movie-star acting, however, do yourself a favor: Get a hold of the original True Grit and watch it. Because what you’ll see is that John Wayne’s performance is a marvel.

He makes Rooster Cogburn a cantankerous old cuss, a kind of cowpoke precursor to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry — the kind of law enforcer who never met a bad guy he didn’t like to shoot. Wayne’s Rooster lives by a code, all right, but the movie suggests that he’s trapped by it as well. In one of the key scenes that’s more or less duplicated in the Coen brothers version (though to far less emotional effect), he talks about his past, including his wrecked marriage, and we see that he’s the sort of “noble” loner who’s really a broken-down, half-dead codger. Killing bad guys isn’t just his mission — it’s the major thing that’s keeping him alive. At the same time, he’s an irresistible rascal whose one-eyed squint becomes a wink of valor. Forty years later, Wayne’s performance has aged beautifully, because it’s easier to see now how much acting there really is in it.

There is one moment, though, that almost by definition can’t match the power it had back in 1969: When Wayne’s Rooster, just before the famous, climactic, reins-in-his-mouth shoot-out, growls out the line “Fill your hands, you son-of-a-bitch!”…there’s simply no way to recapture how funny-edgy, and even shocking, it once was to hear John Wayne, apostle of American values, spit out an epithet like that. The glory of it, of course, is that the real son-of-a-bitch was Rooster. And how does Jeff Bridges do? The consensus seems to be: pretty well. And I would agree. He’s winningly gruff, he looks fine and nasty in that grizzly beard, he’s got the body language of “Saddle-Sore Old Drunken Law Enforcer” down pat, and he wears that eye patch as if he’d never once taken it off in 15 years. To me, though, Bridges’ performance lacks the raw magic of Wayne’s, because it rarely, if ever, surprises you. After a while, that croak of his gets a little bit samey.

This has something to do with the fact that Bridges, as great an actor as he is, has something of an inner Teddy Bear quality. He’s cuddly and humane, even when playing a crank like Rooster; we warm up to the character almost too quickly. More than that, though, I wish that the Coen brothers, in creating their 2010 version of Rooster Cogburn, had departed from the book and made him a touch wilder — given him, say, not just a missing eye but a missing limb, something (anything) to suggest that he’s not just Mattie’s crusty savior but one hellacious, damaged dude. If they’d done that, their True Grit would have been not only grittier but something that the first movie is and this movie may not be: memorable. So where do you stand on the two Rooster Cogburns? Which one has more true grit? Which actor, in the end, gives a better performance — the Duke or the Dude? Or am I wrong to even suggest that there should be a contest between them? Show Full Article True Grit (1969) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title.

Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian territory. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 40 titles created 31 Mar 2011 a list of 28 titles created 15 Oct 2011 a list of 37 titles created 03 May 2013 a list of 43 titles created 11 months ago a list of 38 titles created 6 months ago Search for " True Grit " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards » Videos Marshal Rooster Cogburn unwillingly teams up with Eula Goodnight to track down the killers of her father.

Director: Stuart Millar A senator, who became famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns for the funeral of an old friend and tells the truth about his deed. Director: John Ford Ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother. Director: Henry Hathaway A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity. Director: Don Siegel A Civil War veteran embarks on a journey to rescue his two nieces from an Indian tribe. Director: John Ford 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water. Director: Howard Hawks A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a cripple, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Director: Howard Hawks A tough U.S. Marshal helps a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer. Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Stars: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld After the Civil War, Cord McNally searches for the traitor whose perfidy caused the defeat of McNally's unit and the loss of a close friend. Director: Howard Hawks In 1909, when John Fain's gang kidnaps Big Jake McCandles' grandson and hold him for ransom, Big Jake sets out to rescue the boy. Directors: George Sherman, John Wayne Stars: John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara When his cattle drivers abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his drivers in order to get his herd to market in time to ... See full summary » Director: Mark Rydell Wealthy rancher G.W. McLintock uses his power and influence in the territory to keep the peace between farmers, ranchers, land-grabbers, Indians and corrupt government officials. Director: Andrew V.

McLaglen Edit Storyline The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy, Mattie Ross, (Kim Darby), on a mission of "justice", which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne), because he has "grit", and a reputation of getting the job done. The two are joined by a Texas Ranger, La Boeuf, (Glen Campbell), who is looking for the same man (Jeff Corey) for a separate murder in Texas. Their odyssey takes them from Fort Smith, Arkansas, deep into the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) to find their man. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net> [edited] A Brand New Brand Of American Frontier Story See more » Genres: 21 June 1969 (Japan) See more » Also Known As: Temple de acero See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia Jim Burk doubled for John Wayne in the final jumping fence stunt at the end. See more » Goofs Rooster mentions that he lived for some years in Cairo, Illinois, but he mispronounces the name of the town.

The local pronunciation is KAY-row. See more » Quotes Frank Ross : Little Frank... You take care of your mama. Little Frank: I will. (Tunbridge Wells, England) – See all my reviews "True Grit" deals with one of the classic Western themes, indeed one of the classic themes in all literature- revenge. A teenage girl, Mattie Ross, is looking for someone who will help her track down Tom Chaney, the man who murdered her father. The man Mattie chooses is Rooster Cogburn, a US Marshal. Cogburn is elderly, fat, one-eyed and a heavy drinker, but Mattie chooses him because she has heard that he has "true grit". The two of them set out into the Indian Territory in search of Chaney, accompanied by La Boeuf (shouldn't that be Le Boeuf?), a Texas ranger who wants to arrest him in connection with another murder. This is perhaps best remembered today as the film for which John Wayne won his only Oscar. Halliwell's Film Guide rather ungraciously refers to it as a "sentimental Oscar, for daring to look old and fat", but there is more to Wayne's performance than that.

The Academy, in fact, had tended to overlook Wayne, just as they overlooked the Western genre which provided him with most of his roles; well over a hundred films had only brought him two previous nominations. Cogburn, however, was one of his best roles. On the surface a hard-bitten, irascible old man, he has hidden depths to his character- not only the courage and determination implied by the phrase "true grit", but also a sense of humour and a capacity for tenderness. Cogburn is a lonely man, divorced from his wife and alienated from his only son, and his only friends are a Chinese storekeeper (a rare acknowledgement from Hollywood that not every inhabitant of the West was either white or an Indian) and his cat. A close relationship, however, grows up between him and the orphaned Mattie, for whom he becomes a substitute father. In turn, she becomes the daughter he never had- or perhaps even a substitute son. Mattie is a complex character. There is much about her that is androgynous- her tomboy looks, her short hair, even her name, which can be short for Matthew as well as Matilda or Martha.

She is brave and determined (there is a suggestion that the phrase "true grit" applies to her as well), but can also be a pain in the neck, especially to Cogburn. She is at times wise in the ways of the world and at others strangely innocent. She is part avenging angel, part bookish intellectual (shown by her rather formal language) and part vulnerable child. It is a role that called for an outstanding performance and got one from Kim Darby who was able to bring out all the various facets of Mattie's character. (This is the only film of hers that I have seen, but it seems strange on the strength of this that her subsequent cinema career has been so patchy). Unfortunately, Glenn Campbell, a singer with little previous acting experience, made a weak La Boeuf. It is probably as well that John Wayne did not get his way when he wanted Karen Carpenter, a singer with absolutely no previous acting experience, to play the role of Mattie instead of Darby. Great actors do not always make great casting directors.

"True Grit" does not perhaps have the depth of meaning of some of the truly great Westerns, such as "High Noon", "Unforgiven" or Wayne's last film, "The Shootist", but it is a very good one. It is a fast-moving and exciting adventure, notable for some beautiful photography of mountainous landscapes (although it is ostensibly set in relatively flat Oklahoma, it was actually filmed in Colorado and California), for one of the great iconic moments of the Western (the scene where Cogburn gallops alone into battle, guns blazing, against four opponents) and for two excellent performances in the two main roles. 7/10 48 of 70 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes View All Critic Reviews (50) Audience Reviews for True Grit John Wayne won his one and only Oscar for Best Actor in this exciting and riveting action-packed Western from Director Henry Hathaway that became one of the biggest boxoffice hits of 1969 in a year that was dominated with the return of the Hollywood Westerns that featured "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid",and "The Wild Bunch".

"True Grit" casts the legendary John Wayne,in the prime of his career playing Rooster Cogburn,an aging,hard-drinking,foul-mouthed United States Marshal who was once one of the West's best lawman in his prime. A teenage girl(played by Kim Darby)enlists his help in finding and tracking down the men responsible for brutally murdering her father. Along for the ride and adventure is country music superstar Glen Campbell,who not only sings the movie's theme song,but also makes his theatrical debut in this picture as a devoted and dedicated Texas Ranger who joins the odd couple in finding the killers responsible for her father's death,and bringing them to justice which will be a a task to deal with going against some dangerous desperados,among them Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper,and Bruce Dern. This movie was also Oscar nominated for Best Original Song sung by Glen Campbell. This movie was so successful in 1969 that producer Hal B. Wallis brought John Wayne back in 1975 for the sequel to "True Grit" in the title role of Rooster Cogburn,but this time around screen icon Katherine Hepburn join him for the second installment.

In 2010,directors Joel and Ethan Coen did the remake with Jeff Bridges in the John Wayne role that was also Oscar nominated for Best Original Adaptation Screenplay. Mister Caple Super Reviewer A fourteen-year-old girl hires and accompanies a grizzled U.S. Marshal on a mission to avenge the death her father. It's rare that a re-make is better than the original, but the Coen Brothers accomplished more with this story and the characters than its progenitors. As I watched it, I couldn't help comparing the two. Jeff Bridges's Rooster Cogburn had more character, a chatty, damaged drunkard, but John Wayne is all of these things but muted; Bridges is an actor who takes more risks, unafraid to be seen vulnerable. What we don't get with Wayne's performance is any clue about why Rooster is the way he is; he's just the force that John Wayne has always represented. I did like this iteration of True Grit because it's a fine story and the characters are inherently interesting despite how much more fleshed out they are in the Coen Brothers' version.

Of all the westerns I've seen, this is one of the least racist (the portrayal of Asians leaves something to be desired), and the tale is full of class tropes of revenge and heroes. It's nothing to think too deeply about, but it's a solid three-star film. Overall, despite the strengths of the original True Grit, if you're only going to see one version of this story, you should see the latest one. Overall, despi Jim Hunter True Grit Movie Review & Film Summary (1969) | Roger Ebert There is a moment in "True Grit" when John Wayne and four or five bad guys confront each other across a mountain meadow. The situation is quite clear: Someone will have to back up or die. Advertisement Director Henry Hathaway pulls his telephoto lens high up in the sky, and we see the meadow isolated there, dreamlike and fantastic. And then we're back down on the ground, and with a growl Wayne puts his horse's reins in his teeth, takes his rifle in one of his hands and a six-shooter in the other and charges those bad guys with all barrels blazing. As a scene, it is not meant to be taken seriously.

The night I saw a sneak preview, the audience laughed and even applauded. This was the essence of Wayne, the distillation. This was the moment when you finally realized how much Wayne had come to mean to you. I have on occasion disliked his movies, most particularly " The Green Berets ." But Wayne has a way of surmounting even bad movies, and in 40 years he has also made a great many good ones. In the early ones, like "The Quiet Man" or "The Long Voyage Home," he was simply an actor or simply a star. But long before many of us were born, John Ford began to sculpture the actor and the star into the presence. Today there is no actor in movies who is more an archetype. One of the glories of "True Grit" is that it recognizes Wayne's special presence. It was not directed by Ford (who in any event probably couldn't have been objective enough about Wayne), but it was directed by another old Western hand, Hathaway, who has made the movie of his lifetime and given us a masterpiece. This is the sort of film you call a movie, instead of the kind of movie you call a film.

Advertisement It is one of the most delightful, joyous scary movies of all time. It goes on the list with "National Velvet" and " Robin Hood " and "The African Queen" and " The Treasure of the Sierra Madre " and "Gunga Din." It is not a work of art, but it wouldn't be nearly as good if it were. Instead, it is the Western you should see if you only see one Western every three years (an act of denial I cannot quite comprehend in any case). It is based faithfully on Charles Portis' novel, and it tells the story of Mattie Ross from near Dardanelle, in Yell County. One day her father rides off to the city and is murdered by a cowardly snake. Mattie (played with the freshness of sweet cream by Kim Darby ) rides to town to hire somebody to go into the Indian Territory and capture the scoundrel. She strikes a bargain with U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Wayne), who is a one-eyed, unwashed, sandpapered, roughshod, fat old rascal with a heart of gold well-covered by a hide of leather.

Then a Texas Ranger ( Glen Campbell ) gets into the act when he turns up and claims he has a reward for the killer (who also, it appears, plugged a state senator in Texas). "It is a small reward," the ranger explains, "but he was not a large senator." Advertisement After two horse-trading scenes in which Mattie outtalks the horse trader and drives him to distraction, the three set out into Indian Territory. Rooster and the ranger can't get rid of Mattie so she comes along. And we embark on a glorious adventure not far removed from Huck Finn's trip down the Mississippi, for this is also an American odyssey. Portis wrote his dialog in a formal, enchantingly archaic style that has been retained in Marguerite Roberts' screenplay. Campbell, who needs some acting practice, finds it difficult to make the dialog convincing but Hathaway pulls him through. And Miss Darby, especially in the horse-trading scenes, is a wonder. You may even laugh aloud when she observes that geldings, in her experience, are not a good buy if you mean to breed them. And as for Wayne, I believe he can say almost anything and make it sound convincing.

(In Otto Preminger's "In Harm's Way" he had to say: "I mean to get into harm's way," and he even made that convincing.) Wayne, in fact, towers over this special movie. He is not playing the same Western role he always plays. Instead, he can play Rooster because of all the Western roles he has played. He brings an ease and authority to the character. He never reaches. He never falters. It's all there, a quiet confidence that grows out of 40 years of acting. God loves the old pros. Advertisement 'True Grit' memories from Kim Darby and Glen Campbell - latimes 'True Grit' memories from Kim Darby and Glen Campbell The actors recall working on the original film with John Wayne. January 04, 2011 |By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Most remakes of classic films are shadows of the originals.

But Joel and Ethan Coen's version of the western "True Grit" — with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as the plucky Mattie Ross and Matt Damon as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf — has won over critics, audiences and even Kim Darby, who played the resolute Mattie in the 1969 original for which John Wayne won his only Oscar as the irascible Cogburn. "It's a wonderful movie," said Darby, now 63. "It's top drawer.'" And so, she said, is Steinfeld. "She's just extraordinary in the film," Darby said. "I said to her agent, 'Be sure you're careful what she does next. The next thing is what is so important.'" (Darby's post "Grit" movies — including 1969's "Generation" and 1970's "Norwood" — didn't exactly set the box office on fire.) Darby was especially impressed with Steinfeld's skills on horseback, including riding her black pony across a river.

"God bless her that she did the whole thing," said Darby, who admitted she probably was on a horse for only five minutes in the original. "I am really afraid of horses," she said. "I had a stunt double. She was about 65. They made a mask of my face out of clay and she would wear that and it would match my profile." Most of the major players from the original — including Wayne, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Corey and director Henry Hathaway — have died. But a few in addition to Darby are still around, including Robert Duvall (who played the outlaw gang leader "Lucky" Ned Pepper) and singing star Glen Campbell (who made his film debut as LaBoeuf). For the 1969 "True Grit," which like the 2010 film was adapted from Charles Portis' novel, producer Hal Wallis originally wanted Mia Farrow to play Mattie. But she supposedly turned it down because her "Secret Ceremony" costar Robert Mitchum warned her that Hathaway was a difficult director to work with.

Wallis then saw Darby on an episode of the TV drama "Run for Your Life" in which she played an unwed mother and thought she had the pluck and vulnerability for the Mattie character. Though Steinfeld was just 13 when she played the role of 14-year-old Mattie in the new version, Darby was 21 and the mother of a newborn daughter, Heather, with her first husband, actor James Stacy. During the filming of the movie, she began divorce proceedings against Stacy. "The first 10 days of the movie I would love to do over again," said Darby, who lives in Studio City and has had some minor roles in recent years but has primarily focused on teaching acting over the last two decades. "I think I was more concentrated on my child because she was such an infant." She fondly recalls working with Wayne. "He was there on the set before anyone else and knew every line perfectly," Darby said.

After the production finished filming, Darby remembered, there was a photo shoot at Paramount Pictures with the stars who were working at the studio at the time, "which were John Wayne, Barbra Streisand, Clint Eastwood, Goldie Hawn.… Robert Evans was in the middle. I was sitting on the curb a ways away watching. The Duke stepped out of the picture and he said, 'Hey, kid.' He put out his arms and lifted me up and brought me over and put me in the center of the picture. How wonderful is that?" She did, though, have a bit of a problem with Hathaway, who was 71 when he directed the film. "He was an old prop man and he usually focused on the prop man and he would just yell at him no matter what he did," Darby said. Although they had gotten along well when she first met him at the studio, Hathaway yelled at her on the first day of shooting. "It got me so off guard," she said. "I just got up and went back to my dressing room." Eventually, the two had a heart-to-heart talk in the dressing room.

"I said, 'Henry, I'll do anything you want, just don't yell at me again.' After that day, we went along swimmingly." Campbell, now 74 and living in Malibu, said he also ran into problems with Hathaway. After being yelled at one day, Campbell recalled that he told the director, "You know, I can get on a horse and get out of here and get in my car and go back to L.A.' He kind of looked at me and said, 'Well, I have been tough on you.' That was Henry Hathaway." By the late 1960s, Campbell was a popular recording artist with his hits like "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and was the star of his own CBS variety show, "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour." But he had never acted before "True Grit." "I never thought about being an actor because I am a singer and a guitar player," said Campbell, who has yet to see the new version. But he was thrilled working with the Duke, he said, because he had been a fan of the actor since he was a kid growing up in Delight, Ark. "It was just amazing," Campbell recalled.

"He was so much like my dad. He was a very nice guy." Campbell, who still performs, made only one other feature, 1970's disastrous "Norwood" with Darby. "I enjoyed doing movies; I just wasn't an actor, so to speak," he said. But he joked that he nonetheless did a "good deed" in "True Grit." "I made John Wayne look so good in a movie," Campbell said, "that he won his only Oscar." The Rutherford Institute :: John Wayne Was True Grit John Wayne Was True Grit By John W. Whitehead June 06, 2011 “Fill your hand, you son of a bitch.”—John Wayne in True Grit Some people cast incredible shadows that grow even stronger before their deaths. And when they die, they metamorphosize into myths—such as Hitchcock in film, Mozart in classical music, the Beatles in popular music, Hemingway in literature, Einstein in science, etc. Such was John Wayne.

Indeed, a Harris Poll, released in January 2011, placed Wayne third among America’s favorite film stars—the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared on the poll every year since its inception in 1994. Born in May 1907, Marion Michael Morrison set the standard for the tall (6’4”), strong, silent type. A former USC football player, Wayne broke into movies in the 1920s by doing bit parts. The lowly paid actor rose to stardom when he was cast as the Ringo Kid in John Ford’s classic western Stagecoach (1939). From there, he never looked back. Wayne’s imitators and those he influenced, while too numerous to list, range from tough guys like Clint Eastwood to comedians such as Jim Carrey, who caricatured Wayne’s mannerisms in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Some have criticized Wayne for making too many films, and he did make some mediocre movies, but seeing Wayne acting is how most of us know him. Thus, there’s no better way to remember Wayne than watching his movies. And Wayne’s popularity as a film star has not waned.

This year, FOX is releasing Blu-ray editions of two of Wayne’s films, One Horse Soldiers (1954) and The Comancheros (1961). And Paramount is releasing Rio Lobo (1970) and Big Jake (1971). While they are worth a look, these films are not among Wayne’s best. Here are what I consider John Wayne’s ten best films: Stagecoach (1939). The first pairing of Wayne and director John Ford. By the time Ford called upon Wayne to play the Ringo Kid, “Wayne had developed the distinctive stop-and-start speech patterns that give his line readings the swinging cadences of black verse,” writes Dave Kehr for The New York Times, “and the peculiarly delicate, dancerlike way in which he carries his big (and ever bigger) body along, coming to rest with his hip cocked in the contrapposto pose of classical statuary.” Orson Welles so revered this film that he made his crew watch it before making Citizen Kane. Angel and the Badman (1947). Wayne is a notorious gunslinger who, when wounded, is taken in by a pacifist family that nurses him back to health.

While he is recuperating, the daughter (Gail Russell) in the family falls for the Duke. One of Wayne’s better performances. Red River (1948). This Howard Hawks epic of a grueling cattleman and the battle of wills between father and son (Montgomery Clift) is one of the best westerns ever made. This classic film captures a great fight scene as Wayne and Clift duel across the earth and between cattle hooves. A great John Wayne performance as the cattle boss and one that should have won him an Oscar. The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Wayne earned his first Oscar nomination as the tough, gritty Marine Sergeant who trains a group of wisecracking troops for one of the pivotal battles of World War II. Later, his squad would help capture Iwo Jima from the Japanese. The Quiet Man (1952). Wayne plays Sean Thornton, a weary American ex-boxer who returns to the Irish village of his childhood and tries to take a spirited woman (Maureen O’Hara) as his wife despite the strenuous objections of her brawling brother (Victor McLaglen).

Of course, Wayne has to fight for the woman, and a great fight it is. The Searchers (1956). This John Ford film is, along with Shane, one of the two best westerns ever made. Wayne plays a hard-hearted frontiersman who spends years searching for his niece who was kidnapped by the Indians—a much-copied storyline in other film genres. A great performance by Wayne. And Wayne’s often-repeated phrase in the movie, “That’ll be the day,” so inspired Buddy Holly that he wrote a classic rock song of the same title. Rio Bravo (1959). When Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) takes a killer into custody, the killer’s cattle baron brother comes to break him out with a blockade of gunmen. Great supporting case—Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan and Angie Dickinson. Overlooked at the time by critics, this film has proven very influential and has been remade in other contexts, such as John Carpenter’s Precinct 13. North to Alaska (1960). Wayne, as a gold prospector, picks up his partner’s fiancé and brings her home to Nome, Alaska. Great supporting cast, including Stewart Granger.

This slapstick film shows Wayne’s obvious comedic talents. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). This fine John Ford film has tough cowboy Wayne protecting an idealistic lawyer (James Stewart) against a mean, nasty villain (Lee Marvin). Wayne’s use of the word “pilgrim” in this film became a standard for his impersonators. Strong but subtle performance by Wayne. True Grit (1969). Based on the Charles Porter novel, Wayne plays the cantankerous marshal, Rooster Cogburn, who is hired by a girl to find her father’s murderers. With good support from Kim Darby and Glen Campbell, this film won the Duke his only Oscar. Remade in 2010 by the Coen Brothers. To those who followed Wayne’s development as an actor, it was somewhat disheartening that his greatness as an actor was not recognized until he was nearing death. He was diagnosed with cancer a few years after winning the Oscar.

However, despite the criticism heaped on him for his ultra-conservative stands, when his death came it moved many—as did Wayne’s brave walk, looking gaunt and ghostly, down the Academy staircase two months earlier to present the best picture Oscar to The Deer Hunter. On May 26, 1979, several weeks before his death, Wayne’s enduring status as an American icon was finally recognized when he won the Congressional Gold Medal. Hollywood stars and leaders from across the political spectrum testified before Congress about the merit of conferring the award on Wayne. As Robert Aldrich, the president of the Directors Guild of America, opined: It is important for you to know that I am a registered Democrat and, to my knowledge, share none of the political views espoused by Duke. However, whether he is ill disposed or healthy, John Wayne is far beyond the normal political sharp shooting in this community. Because of his courage, his dignity, his integrity, and because of his talents as an actor, his strength as a leader, his warmth as a human being throughout his illustrious career, he is entitled to a unique spot in our hearts and minds.

In this industry, we often judge people, sometimes unfairly, by asking whether they have paid their dues. John Wayne has paid his dues over and over, and I’m proud to consider him a friend and am very much in favor of my Government recognizing in some important fashion the contribution that Mr. Wayne has made. John Wayne was the real deal. Off-screen, he was much like the characters he played on-screen. And he fought courageously to the end, dying on June 11, 1979. After all, he was only following his own philosophy. As Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute . His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at Whitehead can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org . Publication Guidelines / Reprint Permission John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact staff@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.

Question: What character did John Wayne play in 'True Grit'?
Answer: Rooster Cogburn